All Because of a Paper Cut
by NickyM96
Summary: [MSR] A trip to the ER for our favorite accident prone agent. Written for Mulder's Refuge December Challenge.


TITLE: All Because of a Paper Cut  
  
AUTHOR: Nicky  
  
RATING: G  
  
KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully Romance, Scully Angst, Mulder Torture  
  
SUMMARY: A trip to the ER for our favorite accident prone agent. Written for Mulder's Refuge December Challenge.  
  
Disclaimer: The characters don't belong to me. I'm just borrowing them for my own therapeutic purposes. They will be returned relatively unharmed to Chris Carter, or whoever wants to borrow them next, when I'm done.  
  
* * * * * * *  
  
They call her name several times over the loud speaker before she realizes she's being paged.  
  
"Dana Scully, please report to the ER. Dana Scully, to the ER."  
  
She takes a deep breath and stands from her seat, a quivering hand running through her already messy hair. Her other hand gathers up the cold cup of used to be hot chocolate sitting in front of her at the table, tossing it into a garbage can as she exits the cafeteria.  
  
Within minutes, she's manuevered her way back to the emergency room admission's desk, so familiar with the layout of this hospital. This hospital and most hospitals in the greater DC area, she thinks to herself with a less than amused chuckle. She's been in far too many of them since being partnered with Fox Mulder.  
  
"I'm Dana Scully," she says almost shyly to the nurse at the desk. "You just paged me."  
  
"Hold on." The nurse moves a few files around on the desk before coming up with a slip of paper. She scans it briefly before remembering the message she's supposed to deliver. "They've moved your partner to his room in the ICU. He'll be there until he awakens from the surgery and the doctor feels he's stable enough to move. If you'd like, you can go home and we'll call you when you can . . . "  
  
"I'm going to be staying with him," Scully interrupts her. The determined look on her face tells the nurse not to even try and deter her.  
  
"Very well," the nurse sighs. "He's in room 312. If you take those elevators . . ."  
  
"I can find it," Scully says, stopping the nurse from giving her the useless directions. She's been here enough to know the hospital with her eyes closed. "Thank you."  
  
The elevator seems to take forever to get her to her destination. But soon she finds herself peering through a glass into the room. A nurse is adjusting a few of the lines, getting the patient settled for his recovery.  
  
"How is he?" Scully asks her as she finishes her duties and leaves the room.  
  
"I'm sorry. This patient is off limits. Family only," the nurse coldly informs her, not even looking up from the chart.  
  
"I am his family," Scully says. It's not really a lie if that's what you believe, right? At least that's what she tells herself. But just in case, she'll make sure to go to confession later.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize he had anyone," the nurse apologizes. "You can go in and sit with him. The doctor will be by in about an hour to check on him. He can talk to you then."  
  
The nurse leaves her and Scully walks quietly into the room. She doesn't know why. It's not like he's going to wake up. His injuries were so extensive.  
  
"All this because of a stupid paper cut," she says, grabbing his unbandaged hand. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?"  
  
She looks at his other hand, the one with the so called paper cut. Yeah right it was a paper cut. What kind of paper cut requires 12 stitches?  
  
Before she can answer her own questions, she hears a weak moan coming from the bed.  
  
"Mulder? Can you hear me?" Tears fill her eyes as he starts to awaken.  
  
"Scully?" he whispers. "Wh-where am I?"  
  
"Take a guess, partner," she smiles, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.  
  
"Hospital?"  
  
"You just got out of surgery," she nods. "They doctors had to do a lot to patch you up."  
  
"Surgery? But it was just a little cut," he says, the confusion evident in his eyes.  
  
"Mulder, I don't know how you can define a gouge that takes a dozen stitches to close as a little cut," she scolds, her eyebrow lifting higher than Mulder's ever seen it go. "You really should have called for an ambulance. Or at least called me to come fix you up. How did you cut yourself this badly anyway?"  
  
"I was at the office hiding your Christmas present," he says sheepishly. "I accidentally knocked over the coffee mug from my desk. I cut my hand when I was cleaning it up."  
  
"When you called me, you said it was just a little scratch, Mulder. That it was barely as deep as a paper cut. But you were obviously bleeding profusely. What on earth possessed you to get in your car and try to drive yourself to the hospital?"  
  
"Is that what I did?" he groans, shaking his head at his own stupidity. But it all suddenly comes back to him, the whole accident flashing right before his eyes.   
  
"You remember what happened now?"  
  
"I started to get light headed," he confesses. "Then before I knew it, everything started to get kind of fuzzy and gray. I guess I passed out."  
  
"And ran your car into a parking meter near the office," she tells him. "Fortunately, no one else was hurt and your airbag deployed to save your life. But the airbag did some internal damage that you needed surgery to fix."  
  
"Scully . . . "  
  
"Mulder . . . "  
  
They both try to speak simultaneously. But he gives her a shy grin and nods to her, letting her go first. The smile leaves his face when he notices her tears have started again.  
  
"What is it, Scully?"  
  
"I was so scared. There was so much blood," she sniffs. "And then they took you immediately to surgery. I . . . I thought I was going to lose you. And then I realize that you were never mine to lose."  
  
"Never yours? Are you kidding me, Scully? You've owned me from the day I met you. My heart has belonged to you ever since. Didn't you know that?"  
  
"No," she says quietly. "Really?"  
  
"Really," he smiles. "I know I have a tendency to say this when you have no reason to believe I mean it. But I love you, Scully. I have for a long time now."  
  
"That's good. Because I love you too," she admits, her cheeks blushing furiously.  
  
He lifts his good hand to stroke her reddened cheek, gently pulling her face down to meet his own. The door opens just as he feels her lips brush his mouth.  
  
"I'm sorry to disturb you. But the doctor would like to speak with you out here, Mrs. Mulder," the nurse says from the door.  
  
If Scully thought her face was red before, she can only imagine what she looks like now.   
  
"Did she just call you, Mrs. Mulder?" Mulder asks, the amusement evident on his face.  
  
"I told her I was family," Scully explains while hiding her face behind her hands. "I guess she just assumed that I was your wife."  
  
"I don't mind her thinking that," Mulder says reverently.  
  
The pure love she hears in his voice chokes her up and almost brings more tears. She gives him a tiny smile before going to the hall to speak with the doctor. Just as she gets to the door, she stops and turns back to face him.  
  
"I don't mind her thinking it either," she almost whispers before looking him directly in the eyes for her next statement. "But I wish it were true."  
  
She gives him a bold wink before slipping out the door, leaving him in utter shock to think about what she just said. It looks like they're finally on the same page with their feelings for each other. Maybe now they can finally get things moving in the right direction. Perhaps a paper cut isn't such a bad thing after all if this is what it leads to.  
  
The end 


End file.
